My sister, niece and I are traveling to spain at the end of May. We have a spain eurail pass and seat reservations already to cover the AVE train trips. How are the buses in Spain? We need to get from Cordoba to Granada then from Granada to Madrid. I have found that there are many more departure times for buses than trains.
How far in advance do you need to reserve a bus trip??
Buses work great to fill in when train schedules are sparse or nonexistent. I found Alsa and other Spanish bus companies to provide a comfortable ride. You don't need to reserve most buses ahead, but you could book a few days ahead at http://www.alsa.es/en.
The busses are nice. Not as much leg room as a train and you can't really walk around, but better than a plane. Getting to and from Granada is a case when I often recommend the bus because of better scheduling.
One thing you might consider on the Granada-Madrid trip is to take the bus back to Cordoba and then take the AVE. Especially if you already have a Eurail Pass; you might as well try and get some of your money's worth out of it. And it will be faster than the long bus trip.
Bus tickets can usually be purchased a day or two in advance, and often that same day. The exceptions might be major holidays.
'I have found that there are many more departure times for buses than trains.'
It is highly unlikely you will not be on one of those bus journeys any day, perhaps not the next when you appear at the bus station, but the one after. If you want peace of mind purchase when you arrive in the cities. The Cordoba bus station is opposite the train station. On-line purchase on the ALSA site, from what I have read on forums, presents a problem to many outside Spain, debit and credit card wise, but not when using PayPal.
Thanks for the PayPal tip.
Buses run often and you never need advance reservations. I like to visit the station the evening before and pick up my ticket just to be sure I know where and when to catch my bus.
The buses are nice charter type buses, comfortable and clean. Each station has choices between various companies. Every station I visited in Spain had an information booth where someone can help you choose and book your bus in English.
